Sunday, August 13, 2017

(Lisbon) Just before Cardinal Gerhard Müller was dismissed on 30 June by Pope Francis as Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, he sent Bishop Bernard Fellay, the Superior General of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, a letter. In this he announced that the General Assembly of the Congregation for the Congregation, with papal approval, as a condition for a possible Church recognition of the Society, again demanded the doctrinal preamble of 2012.

On 14 July, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, has asked, in the course of a lecture held in Fatima, about the abrupt turning-point in the discussions between the Society and the Holy See. The question came from a member of the Spanish-speaking Catholic news site, Adelante la Fe, who was the organizer of the event. One of the founders of Adelante la Fe is the countryman, deceased in 2015, by Pope Francis Bishop Rogelio Livieres of Ciudad del Este, whom Pope Francis had deposed without a hearing and without mentioning reasons in 2014. In a press release of the Holy See, it was said that the harmony had been restored in the Paraguayan Episcopal Conference. The following text is the title of an audio section. Bishop Schneider spoke Portuguese in Fatima:

Adelante la Fe: Recently, a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was publicly announced to the Superior General of the Society of Pius X, with which, as it seems, Rome returned to the point where the conversations under Benedict XVI. had broken down. The outcome of the current negotiations had given the impression that the problematic issues related to the Second Vatican Council in Rome might seem to be able to be the object of discussion, while now a priori a written agreement has been broached where agreement is demanded to the entire Vatican II and also to some parts of the post-conciliar Magisterium. Can you tell us something about this situation?

Msgr. Schneider: Personally, this document makes me very sad because I was one of the visitors of the Holy See who was sent to the Society of St. Pius X two years ago. There were four bishops. I was one of them. I have presented a report and proposed some solutions, and now almost everything we have done has proved to be useless. I think this is very anti-pastoral. For three years, the Holy See has encouraged visits and not followed a maximalistic path, but a pastoral way of integrating these realities of the Church, the FSSPX, pastorally to give it a chance to participate fully in the structures of the Church.

I think, therefore, that this is a very anti-pastoral gesture, and in contradiction to the whole mercy rhetoric that is being put forth - unfortunately. At the same time, on the other hand, implicitly, the entire Council is being made infallible, which is contrary to the whole tradition ... The Council is not infallible, according to its own statements, and the Popes John XIII. and Paul VI. have emphasized on numerous occasions that the Second Vatican Council had only pastoral aims. Paul VI. said many times that the Council has announced no new doctrines and that there is nothing in contradiction with the previous ones. So if nothing has been changed, then why this attitude? I see no justifiable reason for expressly declaring such a thing [expressly the recognition of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar period, as it is said in the letter of Cardinal Müller, Editor's note].

For example: Now we talk a lot of ecumenism, with particular generosity, and in the discussions with the Orthodox, the Lutherans are only required the minimum .... The minimum is required. Within the Church, however, one demands the maximum. The FSSPX, however, believes in the eternal dogmas. All dogmas. All. While the Orthodox Church, for example, denies the dogma of infallibility and of the papal primacy, and the Holy See does not even require the most indispensable.

For example, I know the Orthodox very well, because I am among them. I know their mentality. Regarding the conversion of Russia: This is not just for me, there are others who have seen it. A secret saint, who has perished in the persecution in Kazakhstan, shares the same opinion. He said, saying that the conversion of Russia ultimately means that the Orthodox Church will unite with the pope, with Rome. That is their conversion. I believe I hope it will be so. If the Russian Orthodox Church recognizes the primacy of the Pope, it will be a miracle to recognize the dogma of the Pope's infallibility, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception that she does not recognize today, and the Holy See says: "We accept all of your Dogmas, but the Second Vatican Council is strange to us: it is only pastoral, its language is not always clear, the whole about freedom of religion, ecumenism, etc. that does not convince us very much, and some statements of the Magisterium, we are here not sure. All the rest [the dogmas] we accept.

Imagine this: if the Orthodox Church were thus to be converted, the Holy See would at once grant the ecclesiastical communion without demanding what they did not yet agree with it. I'm sure. Of course one could ask oneself: "Would they do with the Orthodox what they do with the FSSPX?" No. I consider this to be very doubtful, but Divine Providence always works, and I also believe that the time is not yet ripe. It will take place when God wants it.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Adelante la Fe (Screenshot)

On July 26, was LifeSiteNews published the letter from Cardinal Müller, the interpretation that the former Prefect of the CDF wanted to put the talks with the SSPX on the shelf for the time being to save the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. At the beginning of July, a few days after Müller's letter became known, La Croix, the daily newspaper of the French Bishops'Conference, and the New York Times, had speculated that Pope Francis was allowing the recognition of the Society of Pius X in order to reverse Summorum Pontificum. Cardinal Müller, according to this interpretation, he had overturned the pope's plans and saved Summorum Pontificum.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

(Rome) On 11 December, Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider, one of the most remarkable and outstanding bishops of the Catholic Church, held a lecture before in Seville, Spain. The theme was "Mary, vencedora de todas las hierjias" (Maria, Conqueror of All Heresies).Blessed Pope Pius IX. had pronounced the Blessed Mother in his bull Singulari quadam December 9 in 1854 as "Virgo Beatissima, quae interemit ac perdidit universas haeresas" which means: "Mary, Conquerer and Destroyer of All Heresies". On the day after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Pius IX. gathered all cardinals and bishops who had come for the occasion to Rome again to comply with its specific task to "strengthen brothers in the faith," and presented them with Singulari quadam an authentic interpretation of the announced Marie dogma.

In his lecture, Bishop Schneider spoke of Freemasonry and its work, with a view to their anniversary. In 2017, several commemorations will be held. In the German-speaking world, with a certain amount of media, the commemoration of "500 years of the Reformation" by Martin Luther will take place. Thus, other events of historical importance are covered. These include two major events that took place 100 years ago. There is the Bolshevik October Revolution in Russia with the spread of Communism, which still dominates one-fifth of the world's population. And, on the other hand, the recent Marian apparition in Fatima, Portugal, where Maria a few days before the outbreak of the October revolution had already directed the view to Russia.

In 2017, however, an event of the utmost importance is still on the agenda. 300 years ago, in 1717, the first Grand Lodge was established in London, to which the entire Freemasonry refers. 2017 is, in fact, a "memorable" year.

Bishop Schneider is known above all for his promotion of the restoration of the sacredness in the Holy Liturgy and the reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist. On the subject of Communion he published several works. In this, he advocates the worthy reception of Communion and recommends receiving Communion on the tongue while kneeling, as Pope Benedict XVI. required in papal masses. Because of the special attention to Holy Communion, Bishop Schneider is one of the decisive defenders of marriage and penance. To Synod of Bishops on the Family, he published a publication with 100 questions and answers with which the aspirations of a new doctrine were rejected, allowing the divorced and remarried to the sacraments.

In Seville, Bishop Schneider spoke of the secret society of Freemasonry, which in 2017 looked back on a 300-year long, turbulent and obscure existence, as well as its revolutionary as well as subversive ambition. Bishop Schneider described Freemasonry as a "tool of Satan", since daylight has largely shied away from it.

The Auxiliary Bishop of Astana recalled in his remarks to St. Maximilian Kolbe and his portrayals of the aggressive appearance of Freemasons in Rome during the First World War. In 1917, in the middle of the war, the Freemasons in Rome celebrated their 200th anniversary. The Freemasons had openly declared war on the Church. They had littered Rome with posters, and with the black flag of the Giordano Bruno which were demonstratively moving up to the Vatican. On the posters and the flags "was a representation of Archangel Michael, who was defeated before the triumphant Lucifer laying on the ground", according to Bishop Schneider.

Because of these experiences the young Maximilian Kolbe, who was then at the Gregoriana, studying theology, created the Militia Immaculatae (Knighthood of the Immaculate), to "counter the actions of Lucifer".

The goal of Freemasonry is, according to Bishop Schneider, "to eliminate the entire doctrine of God, especially Catholic doctrine." To achieve this goal, Freemasonry has been using "numerous societies". "They want the dissolution of morality" for a very specific reason. They are convinced of the principle that "catholicity, without corrupting morality, can not be defeated with logical arguments." Masonic action on this principle is currently "very topical", according to the auxiliary bishop of Kazakhstan.

"Undoubtedly, however, the virgin Mary, who has been immaculately conceived, will in the end, crush the greatest heresy of all time: the heresy of the Antichrist," said the auxiliary bishop.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider is the son of Black Sea Germans. His family had been deported by Stalin to Siberia and Central Asia with more than a million Russian Germans, so Schneider was born in Kyrgyz Tokmok in 1961. In 1973 the family was able to resettle in the Federal Republic of Germany, where he grew up and in 1982 entered the Order of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross. This order already belonged to Saint Anthony of Padua, before he joined the Order of Saint Francis of Assisi. Since 2001, Schneider has been a pastor in Kazakhstan. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as the titular bishop. As such he was first auxiliary bishop of the Karaganda diocese. Since 2011 he is auxiliary bishop of the Archbishopric of Astana.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

(Vatican) Benedict XVI.received two representatives of tradition on 1 September, : the founder and treasurer of theFoederatio Internationalis Juventutem(IFJ) traditional youth and the director of the International Pilgrimage of Tradition,Populus Summorum Pontificum. From 23-26thOctober 2014 there will be a third International pilgrimage to Rome.

Cosimo Marti of Juventutem and Giuseppe Capoccia of Summorum Pontificum Populus received late Monday afternoon in the Vatican. Cosimo Marti had asked in vain for an audience with the Pope before the resignation of Benedict XVI. Last July, he received a surprise letter from the Apostolic Nunciature in Bern. In the Swiss capital, the headquarters of Juventutem.

The Nunciature sent a letter from Curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein. It contained an invitation, no longer expected, to a meeting with Benedict XVI. Marti had assumed that his application had been filed with the resignation and had not expected a reaction.

The letter stated that he could bring a companion. Marti chose Giuseppe Capoccia, Director of Summorum Pontificum Coetus Internationalis , who has organized the International Pilgrimage of Tradition in Rome since 2012 Summorum Pontificum Populus. The pilgrimage will take place in 2014 for the third time at the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, Peter, in St. Petersdom. The pilgrimage is being held out of gratitude for the 2007 Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum granted by Pope Benedict XVI., to free all priests in the celebration of the traditional form of the Roman rite.

2014: 10 years Juventutem

Juventutem, the Youth of Tradition

Since the International Federation Juventutem 2014 is having ts 10th anniversary, there is a pivot point of this year's pilgrimage. Cardinal George Pell, the prefect of the Economic Secretariat of the Holy See will celebrate Pontifical High Mass on this occasion on October 24 in the church of the Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini of the Fraternity of St. Peter in Rome. Ecclesiastical Assistant of Juventutem is Father Armand de Malleray of the Fraternity of St. Peter .

The highlight of the pilgrimage will be on Saturday, October 25, at the Pontifical Office in St. Peter's Basilica, which will be celebrated in 2014 by Cardinal Raymond Burke. On Sunday, October 26, the youth from Juventutem will visit the Benedictine Monastery of Norcia, where Cardinal Walter Brandmüller will give a sermon and Holy Mass in the Immemorial Rite.

Immemorial Mass for Juventutem at WYD 2005 in Cologne signaled a Liturgical Turning Point

Cardinal Pell had already celebrated the Traditional Rite for Juventutem in 2005 at WYD in Cologne as the umbrella organization of traditional youth organization took part for the first time in an official event of the Catholic Church. WYD 2005 was also the first time once again, that the Old Rite had been celebrated in an official event, a major Church. The Old Mass at World Youth Day in Cologne signaled, only a few months after the election of Benedict XVI., the beginning of a liturgical change.

Two years after the Cologne, the same Pope granted the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum . He is also thought of the thousands of young people with Juventutem who had come to Cologne, where he wrote in the accompanying letter to the bishops, which was published with the motu proprio:

"Immediately after the Second Vatican Council it was presumed that requests for the use of the 1962 Missal would be limited to the older generation which had grown up with it, but in the meantime it has clearly been demonstrated that young persons too have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist, particularly suited to them. "

The former opinion, that the "request" was restrictive to the older generation, or should be limited, seems to be something to which the successor of Benedict XVI., Pope Francis is still attached. In the ad limina visit of the Czech bishops last February, Francis wondered aloud to Archbishop of Olomouc Graubner in January at the fact that young Catholics interested in the traditional rite:

"When I think about it more thoroughly, I find that it is rather a kind of fashion. And because it is a fashion, therefore we must not give it so much attention. "

The contents of what took place on Monday during the meeting with Benedict XVI. is not yet known. Before the meeting Cosimo Marti and Giuseppe Capoccia, said the French site Notions Romaines, it was their desire to express the loyalty and gratitude as representatives of traditional youth to Benedict XVI.. Otherwise the encounter was left to Providence and the emeritus pope.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

(Rome) The Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum (CISP) is recalling the Second International Pilgrimage of Tradition to Rome ad Petri Sedem and is asking for a large participation. The International Pilgrimage is an opportunity to express the vitality of tradition and an attachment to the old Mass. It is the first pilgrimage to Rome of this kind under the new pontificate. Great attention by the Curia and the press is expected: "The pilgrimage will be carefully observed in Rome" is the word in the Vatican because the change of popes has set some changes in motion.

The CISP is the organizer of the pilgrimage, which from the 24th to the 27th of October 2013, leads the pilgrimage of Catholic tradition to St. Peter's Tomb in Rome. Climax and conclusion of the pilgrimage, as in the previous year, will be a solemn Pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Extraordinary Form [Immemorial Mass] of the Roman Rite. The program of the pilgrimage about the first pilgrimage in 2012 on the Una Cum Papa Nostro site can be read.

The CISP wanted to initiate the pilgrimages to offer an expression of gratitude to Pope Benedict XVI. for the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum granted in 2007. They also want to give the classical form of the Roman Rite more public attention and bring it back into St. Peter's Basilica, the most famous church of Christendom.

The first pilgrimage took place on the 1-3rd of November 2012 under the motto Una Cum Papa Nostro. They also concluded with a Pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the Old Rite, which was publicly celebrated by the Spanish Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation of Rites. It was the first time since the reform of the liturgy, that the traditional rite was celebrated publicly with such a large crowd in St. Peter's faithful. Previously, only Cardinal Walter Brandmüller had celebrated during the meeting at one of the two main altars of the papal basilica in the traditional rite in 2011.

It has not been announced who will celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Old Rite in St. Peter's Basilica in 2013. On other days, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana and Bishop Rifan of the Apostolic Administration of St. John Vianney will celebrate the Mass of Saint Pius V.

(kreuz.net) "The more committees, the more proceedings, the more fear of public opinion and the politically correct, the less there will be real reforms in the Church."

This is what Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider from Astana in Kazakhstan said on Pentecost Sunday at the Swabian pilgrimage Maria Vesperbild.

For Msgr Schneider it is "more than clear that the Church has experienced a great crisis."

Communion is Handed out Like Bread

The crisis shows itself in its most gripping in the declining Liturgy, for the prelate: "Today's manner of receiving Communion spread throughout the world is a great wound."

The body of Christ has been received "without recognizable sacral gestures of worship".

Hand communion leaves one with the impression as if one is taking a regular meal, which "one puts in ones' own mouth".

The Bible gives a different example of reverence

Msgr Schneider recalled that the angel and prophets in Holy Scripture knelt before Jesus Christ:

"How great is the contrast between today's widely spread form of handcommunion with the minimalistic signs of reverence on the one side and the glorious examples in Holy Scripture and the examples of Catholics frm the past two thousand years, and also the edifying examples of our own associates, parents, grandparents on the other side."

The example of the Pope

Msgr Schneider recalled then that Pope Benedict XVI has been distributing Holy Communion in the mouth since Corpus Christi of 2008 to the faithful on their knees:

"A true Catholic, and even more a Catholic Bishop, can not ignore the Pope's gestures."

That would be a true renewal

For the Auxiliary Bishop it would be a poignant sign of Faith if all the Masses world-wide "were brought back to clear signs of reverence, silence, the holiness of the music".

He criticized the supper table very carefully: priests and people should interiorly and exteriorly look together upon Christ -- he said.

All faithful should "receive the body of Christ self-evidently in the state of sanctifying grace, having gone too confession, and to receive it directly in the mouth with the piety of a child."

In this Msgr Schneider sees "powerful sings of a true renewal in the Church".

In such Masses a God fearing man should fall on his knees and say: "Verily, God is among you" [1Cor 14 24-25]

A Church of Believers -- not of Church-tax payers

The Auxiliary Bishop explained in his sermon an example of reform from Kazakhstan.

In the city of Karaganda the Catholics built one Church every 35 years under the Communists.

The authorities allowed only a lowly, utilitarian building without towers or a cross.

For two years the faithful -- also the elderly and the children --- were occupied with the building.

They dug even in the earth, in order to put the church deeper in order to allow for a larger interior space.

Without Discussions or Commissions

After the completion of construction there was no Bishop far and wide who could have blessed the church.

Actually the parish priest -- he was called Pater Alexander Chira by everyone -- promised the faithful that God would send a Bishop.

On the day of the blessing he appeared himself with a mitre and shepherd's staff in the church. He was a secret Bishop.

According to a woman who witnessed the event, there were even more tears flowing than holy water.

The church blessing is an example for Msgr Schneider "of true reform of the Church without a lot of commissions and discussions."

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Edit: He stops short of saying for Vatican II what he says of the New Rite of the Mass. He's not just criticizing abuses in the Liturgy, or Communion in the Hand, but the Rite itself.The new Eucharistic celebration gives the impression of a gathering and not the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. -kreuz.net

(kreuz.net) Priests and Bishops supposedly had to regard the Liturgical Revolution of Paul VI. († 1978) "with awe", because it had been "formed by the Church".

This is the opinion of Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider (50) of Astana in Kazakhstan at the end of October for the video site 'gloria.tv'.

The Auxiliary Bishop assures that it may be possible to celebrate the new Mass worthily.A Work of Man
The infallibility of the Pope does not correspond to the Liturgical reform -- remarked Msgr Schneider.

No human labor is complete and the Liturigal Reform is a human work.

The Auxiliary Bishop commented in the Pope's declaration in the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum" on the mutual enrichment between the Old Mass and the Eucharistic celebration.

For him the enrichment is if anything, one sided: The new Eucharistic celebration should be enriched by the elments of the Old Mass.

The Meal is only a part of the Mass

Msgr. Schneider is turned against a Mass celebration with the back to God.

There is no precedent for it in Church history.

The Supper Table makes a gathering or a meal out of the Mas. The representation of the Sacrifice on the Cross of Christ disappears into the back ground.

In reality the elements of a meal appear first at the distribution of Communion: "There is the table and the table cloth."

On the contrary, both -- the Communion rail and the Communion cloth -- have been eliminated.

The Problem is in the Rite

In the new Sunday Mass there is -- even without abuses -- the impression of a meeting.

As causes Msgr Schneider described the celebration facing the people and the fact, that laity stand, go into the sanctuary and read readings or accomplish other activities.

In the new Mass, everything is loudly recited. Everything must be seen.

There is too little room for the contemplative, the silence and prayer.

Msgr Schneider believes that the Liturgical Revolution had never been the intention of the Conciliar Fathers.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Hand Communion promotes the erroneous assertion that the Host is a precious little piece of bread, that one can simply snap up. -kreuz.net

(kreuz.net) Hand Communion could not be banned like a revolution.

This is what Msgr. Schneider (50) of Astana in Kazakhstan for the website 'gloria.tv' on the end of October.

Msgr Schneider is a sharp critic of hand Communion.

He recommends that the faithful can be led to kneeling Communion on the tongue with much patience and catechesis.

The Calvinist Form Leads to Calvinist Content

Msgr Schneider argued psychologically against the Calvinist practice of hand communion stemming from the sixteenth century.

One takes ordinarily with one's fingers what one wants in a commonplace way.

On the other hand, kneeling Communion on the tongue is a "complete gesture of sacrality, which expresses the sublime."

No mature person goes to a knee, to receive a meal.

Hand Communion promotes an erroneous understanding that the Host "is more bread, that one can take."

Above all children may no longer experience, because of the daily form of hand Communion, the sublimity and greatness of Holy Communion.

That Wasn't Hand Communion

Hand Communion has let the belief in real presence and in the transubstantiation of the bread disappear.

The traditional form of the Mass impresses this belief much better than in the New Eucharistic Celebration.

Msgr Schneider stressed that the ancient form of the reception of Communion was on the tongue.

The faithful merely received the Host on their hands.

BUT: They bent themselves down from below, in order to take the Communion with their tongue.

The transition to direct distribution of Communion in the mouth in the 6th and 7th centuries is something that was a logical consequence of a deepening Eucharistic understanding, according to Bishop Schneider.

Worthy Initiative

Purpose

This is a polemical Catholic Royalist blog. It will also attempt to provide a window onto various events, situations and personalities not generally or favorably presented to the purview of the general public in the English speaking world. It also hopes to be a bridge for those who wish to cross over, unite and fight for the truth.